Interview with Lara Landon

(Photo : Lara Landon) Lara Landon

1. What message you like to deliver to the listener through your new album ‘Overcome’?

I want people to come away from listening to this whole album empowered by the truth of God’s promise- that we will overcome by the blood of Jesus and by the word of our own testimony (Rev. 12:11). The album starts out with songs about being broken and vulnerable before God but progresses to a place of claiming that we can be broken and weak but at the same time can live out of a place of confidence and authority. We are ambassadors of heaven here in this fallen world. I hope this album gives people twelve songs that express their own feelings about brokenness and empowerment.

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2. What's your biggest challenge as a songwriter?

The biggest challenge is not caring what people will think. It’s hard to write straight from your gut, unchecked and uncensored but that’s what makes great music. On top of that, I feel a responsibility to only release songs with lyrics that I know are redemptive even when expressing heart break. So I write a lot of songs straight from my heart that I will never release and out of those I choose some that I feel are worth sharing.

3. In 2006 you started a non-profit organization, New Reality International. Tell us about the organization.

New Reality International is a medical missions organization. At first, it was very overwhelming for my sister and I to get it started. Now, we look back and see that God opened so many doors and arranged so many things we never could have ourselves. We’ve served over 13,000 people in Haiti, South America, and Africa. Next, we are planning to reach into India. The hard part is not finding “good” ways to help suffering people all over the world, but God’s way and will for us specifically to go where He wants us to go. In mission work, it’s easy to get caught up in the good feeling we get from helping others more than seeking the sometimes unpleasant feelings of obeying what God is leading us to do.

4. Tell us about national "I See God In You" campaign and the response it received.

I asked people to submit stories and pictures of the people they have “seen God in”. It was very touching to read all the different submissions. My hope was that this would remind people to interact with others as if we were interacting with Jesus. It’s a really hard thing to live out. So often in my life I don’t see Jesus when I look at people that are not similar to myself. I know I could stand to be reminded that Jesus loves and died for all the unlovely, hurt, broken, poor, dirty, arrogant, selfish people just like myself.

5. What do you do when you don’t write? What’s your hobby?

I love to take pictures, clean (oddly enough!), and find other ways to be creative besides making music like painting and decorating. I love thrift shopping and making old ugly things new.